Illegal content search device, illegal content search method, and program

ABSTRACT

An objective of the present invention is to achieve greater efficiency in searches for illegal (illegitimate) content. The illegitimate content relates to content posted by an unauthorized user without a legitimate ownership of the content. An illegitimate content search device according to the present invention comprises: a content profile acquisition part for acquiring a profile including a posting history of illegitimate content posted by a user having posted candidate content being potentially illegitimate content; and a matching priority calculation part for calculating, on the basis of the profile, the priority of the candidate content with regard to determining whether a plurality of pieces of content is illegitimate content, and elevating the priority of the illegitimate content with higher if a history of having posted the illegitimate content higher than if content without the history.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an illegitimate content search device,an illegitimate content search method, and a program that search forillegitimate content posted by an unauthorized person, who is not theowner of legitimate content.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, due to the development of communication network technology andthe progress in communication terminals such as smartphones and personalcomputers (PCs), many content delivery sites to and from which contentsuch as a video can be uploaded and downloaded have been established.Users can easily upload content to this type of content delivery sites,and thus the number of pieces of content uploaded on such contentdelivery sites is increasing year by year. Such content delivery siteshave the problem that illegitimate content relevant to legitimatecontent is illegitimately uploaded by unauthorized persons, who are notthe owner of the legitimate content. Therefore, there is a demand for atechnology for detecting illegitimate content.

For example, Non-Patent Literature 1 discloses a method for detecting anillegal and harmful document by extracting a phrase characteristicallyappearing in the illegal and harmful document, and learning a group ofsegments of the document that have dependency relation to each other.

Furthermore, Non-Patent Literature 2 discloses a method for detecting aharmful site from among a large number of sites accessible viacommunication networks. In this method, character strings contained inthe Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) of a harmful site arestatistically learned by a Support Vector Machine (SVM), and a sitewhose HTML contains the character string extracted based on the learningis detected as a harmful site.

CITATION LIST Non Patent Literatures

[NPL 1] Kazushi IKEDA, and other three “Detection of Illegal andHazardous Information Using Dependency Relations”, DEIM Forum 2010 C9-5

[NPL 2] Kazushi IKEDA, and other five, “Detection of Illegal andHazardous Information Based on HTML Elements”, Transactions ofInformation Processing Society of Japan, Vol. 52, No. 8, P. 2474-2483

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Technical Problem

In an illegitimate content search as described above, a search query iscreated based on the title or the like of legitimate content, and basedon the created search query, possible content, which is possiblyillegitimate content and is acquired from a content acquisition sourcesuch as a content delivery site. Then, the acquired possible content iscompared to the legitimate content, and it is determined whether or notthe possible content is the illegitimate content.

Here, there is the problem that downloading a large number of pieces ofpossible content from content delivery sites that have an enormousnumber of pieces of content and comparing the downloaded possiblecontent with the legitimate content take an immense amount of time, andthus it is not possible to efficiently search for the illegitimatecontent.

With the foregoing problems in view, it is an object of the presentinvention to provide an illegitimate content search device, anillegitimate content search method, and a program that can improve theefficiency of a search for illegitimate content.

Means for Solving the Problem

In order to solve the aforementioned problems, the illegitimate contentsearch device according to the present invention relates to anillegitimate content search device configured to search for illegitimatecontent posted by an unauthorized person, who is not an owner oflegitimate content, including: a content profile acquiring unitconfigured to acquire a profile that includes a posting history ofillegitimate content posted by a user who has posted possible content,which is possibly the illegitimate content; and a comparison prioritycalculating unit configured to calculate, based on the profile, apriority of the possible content that is to be used for determiningwhether or not the possible content is the illegitimate content, andgive a higher priority to the illegitimate content in a case where theposting history includes a record of the fact that the user posted theillegitimate content, than in a case where the posting history does notinclude such a record of the fact that the user posted the illegitimatecontent.

Furthermore, in order to solve the aforementioned problems, theillegitimate content search method according to the present inventionrelates to an illegitimate content search method that is executed by anillegitimate content search device configured to search for illegitimatecontent posted by an unauthorized person, who is not an owner oflegitimate content, the method including: a step of acquiring a profilethat includes a posting history of illegitimate content posted by a userwho has posted possible content, which is possibly the illegitimatecontent; and a step of calculating, based on the profile, a priority ofthe possible content that is to be used for determining whether or notthe possible content is the illegitimate content, and giving a higherpriority to the illegitimate content in a case where the posting historyincludes a record of the fact that the user posted the illegitimatecontent, than in a case where the posting history does not include sucha record of the fact that the user posted the illegitimate content.

Moreover, in order to solve the aforementioned problems, the programaccording to the present invention relates to a program for causing acomputer to function as the above-described illegitimate content searchdevice.

Effects of the Invention

According to the illegitimate content search device, the illegitimatecontent search method, and the program of the present invention, it ispossible to improve the efficiency of a search for illegitimate content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an example of aconfiguration of an illegitimate content search device according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of a querycreation dictionary generated by a query creation dictionary generatingunit shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of an illegitimate contentsearch method that is executed by the illegitimate content search deviceshown in FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described withreference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing an example of aconfiguration of an illegitimate content search device 1 according to anembodiment of the present invention.

The illegitimate content search device 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes: aquery creation dictionary generating unit 11; a query creationdictionary storing unit 12; a search query creation rule storing unit13; a search query creating unit 14; a comparison target acquiring unit15; a content profile acquiring unit 16; an exceptional content removingunit 17; a fishing content detecting unit 18; a previously detectedillegitimate content removing unit 19; an illegitimacy probabilityestimation model creating unit 20; an illegitimacy probabilityestimation model storing unit 21; a comparison priority calculating unit22; a comparison parameter setting unit 23; a content downloading(DL)/comparing unit 24; a query creation dictionary updating unit 25; afishing content updating unit 26; an illegitimate content profileupdating unit 27; and an illegitimacy probability estimation modelupdating unit 28.

The illegitimate content search device 1 uses a search query based on,for example, the title of legitimate content (legitimate title) andmeta-information thereof to search for illegitimate content stored in acontent acquisition source on the Internet. “Illegitimate content”refers to content that is relevant to legitimate content and was postedby an unauthorized person, who is not the owner of the legitimatecontent. “Meta-information” refers to attribute information attached tolegitimate content. Meta-information includes, for example, a subtitle,the cast of the content, a character name, the episode number, the dateand time of broadcast, the cast, the abbreviated name, the category ofthe content, and the like.

“Content acquisition source” refers to a site that is present on theInternet, and on and from which content can be posted, browsed, anddownloaded, for example. In response to a request from a posting user,the content acquisition source accepts posting of content from acommunication terminal, and stores the posted content. Furthermore, thecontent acquisition source allows, in response to a request from a user,the user to download stored content onto a communication terminal. Notethat the content acquisition source is, for example, a server devicethat manages a content posting site and the like, a distributed systemconstituted by a plurality of server devices, a cloud service, or thelike. Also, “posting” means uploading content so that the uploadedcontent is stored. Furthermore, “posting user” means a user who postscontent, among users who use a content acquisition source.

Examples of the content acquisition source include a user posting-typecontent posting site, a web search site, a curation website ofillegitimate content Uniform Resource locators (URLs), and aparasitic-type content sharing site.

“User posting-type content posting site” is a site on which a user canacquire (browse and download, for example) content posted on this siteby performing a search using a search query. In the user posting-typecontent posting site, search results are ranked based on site-specificcriteria.

“Web search site” is a site on which a user can acquire content existingon the Internet in a cross-over manner by performing a search using asearch query. In the web search site, search results are ranked based onsite-specific criteria.

“Curation website of illegitimate content URLs” is a site on which linksto illegitimate content are put together by a site administrator.Because it is operated by manpower, content derived from the curationwebsite of illegitimate content URLs is highly likely to be illegitimatecontent.

“Parasitic-type content sharing site” is a site on which content postedon another site such as a user posting-type content posting site can beshown and reproduced.

The above-described user posting-type content posting site and the likeinclude a site that has the function of allowing a user to acquire, foreach type of content, a certain number of content (relevant content)that is highly relevant to this content. For specification of therelevant content, site-specific criteria are provided such that, forexample, another piece of content used by many users who use thatcontent is regarded as relevant content. If the original content towhich the relevant content is associated is illegitimate content,similarly, the relevant content is also highly likely to be illegitimatecontent. The illegitimate content search device 1 also acquires suchrelevant content from a content acquisition source. There may be caseswhere, by acquiring relevant content, illegitimate content that cannotbe found by a search using a search query based on the title or the likeof the content can be found. Note however that, because there may alsobe cases where content that is not relevant to the content a user wantsto find is often included, the user needs to appropriately determine asto whether or not to use relevant content.

The query creation dictionary generating unit 11 extracts, from thetitle of illegitimate content, a relevant phrase that is relevant to aphrase included in the title of legitimate content (legitimate title),and registers the extracted relevant phrase into a query creationdictionary. The query creation dictionary is a dictionary in whichphrases for creating a search query to be used in illegitimate contentsearch are registered. For example, the query creation dictionarygenerating unit 11 extracts, as a relevant phrase, a notationfluctuation phrase, a foreign language notation, or the like withrespect to the legitimate title, and registers the extracted phrase inthe query creation dictionary.

Also, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11 may use theextracted relevant phrase to search a content acquisition source. Thequery creation dictionary generating unit 11 may also acquire, fromsearch results, the number of pieces of content (relevantphrase-including content) whose title includes the relevant phrase, thenumber of pieces of illegitimate content in the relevantphrase-including content, and the ratio of the illegitimate content tothe relevant phrase-including content (illegitimate content ratio), andregister them in the query creation dictionary in association with therelevant phrase. In other words, the query creation dictionarygenerating unit 11 may also calculate the illegitimate content ratio,which is the ratio of the number of pieces of illegitimate content whosetitle includes the relevant phrase to the number of pieces of relevantphrase-including content whose title includes the relevant phrase, andregister the calculated ratio in the query creation dictionary inassociation with the relevant phrase.

An illegal posting user, who posts illegitimate content, often posts theillegitimate content with the title obtained by intentionally modifyinga legitimate title, so that the posted illegitimate content is preventedfrom being found and deleted by the owner or the like. For example, thetitle of illegitimate content may be obtained by converting all or partof a legitimate title into a similar phrase (notation fluctuationphrase) such as a Kana word, a Kanji word, a Romanized word, or anabbreviation. The title of illegitimate content may also be obtained byconverting all or part of a legitimate title into a foreign languagenotation. There may be cases where illegitimate content whose title waschanged in such a manner cannot be found even by performing a searchusing a search query created based on the legitimate title. Accordingly,by acquiring a phrase actually used in illegitimate content andregistering the acquired phrase in the query creation dictionary forcreating a search query, it is possible to collect a wider range ofillegitimate content.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of the querycreation dictionary generated by the query creation dictionarygenerating unit 11.

As shown in FIG. 2, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11registers the title of the legitimate content in the query creationdictionary. Furthermore, the query creation dictionary generating unit11 registers, as relevant phrases, notations actually used inillegitimate content, such as a notation fluctuation phrase and aforeign language notation with respect to a phrase (notation) used tocreate a search query, such as “legitimate title”, “subtitle”, or “dateof broadcast”, in the query creation dictionary. The query creationdictionary generating unit 11 also registers the type of each phrase asto whether the registered phrase is a correct expression obtained fromthe legitimate title, a notation fluctuation phrase thereof, or aforeign language notation thereof, in the query creation dictionary.

Also, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11 may also search acontent acquisition source to obtain the number of pieces of relevantphrase-including content whose title includes any of the extractedrelevant phrases, the number of pieces of illegitimate content whosetitle includes any of the relevant phrases relative to the relevantphrase-including content, and the illegitimate content ratio, which isthe ratio of the illegitimate content to the relevant phrase-includingcontent, and register the obtained information in the query creationdictionary in association with the relevant phrase. By obtaining andregistering indexes that are useful in finding illegitimate content,such as the number of pieces of relevant phrase-including content, thenumber of pieces of illegitimate content relative to the relevantphrase-including content, and the illegitimate content ratio, it ispossible to generate a more useful dictionary for creating a searchquery.

The illegitimate content search device 1 according to the presentembodiment is based on the assumption that a relevant phrase isextracted from the title of content known as being illegitimate, so thatthe number of phrases registered in the query creation dictionary isincreased. Accordingly, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11collects relevant phrases, using a title to which a label indicatingthat it is illegitimate or non-illegitimate was added by manpower, thetitle of content determined as illegitimate content by thelater-described content DL/comparing unit 24, and the like, andregisters the collected relevant phrases into the dictionary. If thetitle of content determined as illegitimate content by the contentDL/comparing unit 24 is used, a notation fluctuation phrase that isfrequently used and the like may be obtained from an external resourceor created in accordance with a predetermined rule, for example, and maybe registered in the query creation dictionary as initial state phrases,until the sufficient number of titles of illegitimate content arecollected. Specifically, a phrase obtained by converting a legitimatetitle into a Kana notation, a phrase obtained by converting thelegitimate title into a Romanized notation, a foreign language notationacquired from, for example, a dictionary site on the Internet, and thelike may also be registered in the query creation dictionary, as initialstate phrases.

The following will describe procedures in which a notation fluctuationphrase and a foreign language notation are acquired from the title ofillegitimate content, and are registered in the query creationdictionary. First, the procedure in which a notation fluctuation phraseis acquired based on the title of illegitimate content, and isregistered in the query creation dictionary will be described.

The query creation dictionary generating unit 11 extracts, from a listof titles of illegitimate content, a group of titles that does notinclude a phrase completely matching the phrase registered in the querycreation dictionary, and regards the extracted group of titles as aprocessing target. In other words, the query creation dictionarygenerating unit 11 removes, from the processing target, any title thatincludes a phrase completely matching the phrase registered in the querycreation dictionary.

Then, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11 performs languageanalysis (for example, morphological analysis) on the extracted group oftitles, and divides the text of the title of content into phrases.

Then, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11 extracts, fromthe phrases (phrases obtained by dividing the title of content) obtainedthrough the language analysis, a phrase whose appearance frequency ishigher than a predetermined value. Note that the criteria for extractingsuch a phrase may also be such that a phrase classified into a specificparse through the language analysis, a phrase determined as a titleportion through the syntax analysis, or the like is extracted.

Then, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11 calculates theedit distance of the extracted phrase to the phrase registered in thequery creation dictionary. In other words, the query creation dictionarygenerating unit 11 calculates the edit distance of the phrase includedin the title of the illegitimate content to the phrase registered in thequery creation dictionary. Specifically, the query creation dictionarygenerating unit 11 calculates the edit distance of, from among thephrases included in the title of the illegitimate content, a phrasewhose appearance frequency is higher than the predetermined value, tothe phrase registered in the query creation dictionary. Note that anedit distance is a type of distance indicating how different twocharacter strings are. An edit distance is defined as the minimum numberof times the procedure needs to be performed to modify one characterstring into the other character string by inserting, deleting, orreplacing one character. The smaller edit distance indicates that thetwo character strings are hardly different from each other. The querycreation dictionary generating unit 11 extracts, as a notationfluctuation phrase, a phrase whose edit distance is equal to or smallerthan a predetermined value.

Then, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11 performs a searchfor content on a content acquisition source, using a phrase whose editdistance to the phrase registered in the query creation dictionary isequal to or smaller than the predetermined value, as a search query.Then, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11 obtains, for apredetermined number of higher rank phrases in the number of pieces ofrelevant phrase-including content obtained through the search, thenumber of pieces of illegitimate content in the relevantphrase-including content, and the illegitimate content ratio, andregisters a phrase for which the values of these items are equal to orgreater than predetermined values, as a relevant phrase (notationfluctuation phrase), in the query creation dictionary. The querycreation dictionary generating unit 11 may register a phrase whose editdistance to the phrase registered in the query creation dictionary isequal to or smaller than a predetermined value, as a relevant phrase(notation fluctuation phrase), in the query creation dictionary. Notehowever that, as described later, by setting the number of pieces ofillegitimate content in the relevant phrase-including content obtainedthrough the search using an extracted phrase, and the illegitimatecontent ratio as indexes for the registration in the query creationdictionary, it is possible to generate a higher-quality query creationdictionary. Note that the query creation dictionary generating unit 11determines whether or not the found content is illegitimate, usingvideo/sound comparison.

As illegitimate content from which a notation fluctuation phrase is tobe extracted, content other than the content obtained through a normalsearch, namely for example, relevant content or content derived from acuration website of illegitimate content URLs are preferably used. Thesetypes of content often include content that cannot be found through anormal search, and there is a high likelihood that a new notationfluctuation phrase can be acquired. However, because relevant contentalso includes many pieces of non-illegitimate content, it is preferableto perform video/sound comparison before extracting a phrase, and useonly the content determined as being illegitimate.

The following will describe two procedures in which a foreign languagenotation is acquired from the title of illegitimate content, and isregistered in the query creation dictionary. The first procedure foracquiring a foreign language notation from the title of illegitimatecontent, and registering the acquired foreign language notation in thequery creation dictionary will be described first. The first procedureis a procedure for acquiring a foreign language notation from a foreignlanguage title put down with the Japanese title.

The query creation dictionary generating unit 11 performs languageanalysis on the title of illegitimate content, and divides the text ofthe title of the content into phrases.

Then, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11 extracts, fromthe phrases obtained through the language analysis, a co-occurrencephrase whose co-occurrence appearance frequency with respect to theJapanese title (a legitimate title and a relevant phrase (notationfluctuation phrase) registered in the query creation dictionary) isequal to or greater than a predetermined value. The co-occurrence phrasecan be extracted using, for example, a statistical model such asWord2Vec.

Then, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11 performs languagedetermination on the extracted co-occurrence phrase, and extracts aphrase determined as being in a foreign language as a foreign languagenotation.

Then, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11 performs a searchfor content on the content acquisition source, using the phraseextracted as a foreign language notation, as a search query. Then, thequery creation dictionary generating unit 11 obtains, for apredetermined number of higher rank phrases in the number of pieces ofrelevant phrase-including content obtained through the search, thenumber of pieces of illegitimate content in the relevantphrase-including content, and the illegitimate content ratio, andregisters a phrase for which the values of these items are equal to orgreater than predetermined values, as a relevant phrase (foreignlanguage notation), in the query creation dictionary. Note that thequery creation dictionary generating unit 11 determines whether or notthe found content is illegitimate, using video/sound comparison.

The query creation dictionary generating unit 11 may extract, from thetitles of illegitimate content, a co-occurrence phrase whoseco-occurrence appearance frequency with respect to the title of thelegitimate content, or the relevant phrase (notation fluctuation phrase)registered in the query creation dictionary is equal to or greater thana predetermined value, and, if the extracted co-occurrence phrase is ina language different from that of the title of the legitimate content,the query creation dictionary generating unit 11 may register thisco-occurrence phrase as a relevant phrase (foreign language notation),in the query creation dictionary. Note however that, as will bedescribed later, by setting the number of pieces of illegitimate contentin the relevant phrase-including content obtained through the searchusing an extracted phrase, and the illegitimate content ratio, asindexes for the registration in the query creation dictionary, it ispossible to generate a higher-quality query creation dictionary.

The following will describe the second procedure for acquiring a foreignlanguage notation from the title of illegitimate content, andregistering the acquired foreign language notation in the query creationdictionary. The second procedure is a procedure of acquiring a foreignlanguage notation by translating a Japanese title into the foreignlanguage title.

The query creation dictionary generating unit 11 translates a Japaneselegitimate title into a foreign language title. Here, the query creationdictionary generating unit 11 may extract and use not only a wordobtained by a simple literal translation of the Japanese legitimatetitle but also a word having a similar meaning derived from a thesaurus(dictionary of synonyms). With this measure, it is possible to create avariety of foreign language notations.

Then, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11 performs a searchfor content on the content acquisition source, using the translatedphrase as a search query. Then, the query creation dictionary generatingunit 11 obtains, for a predetermined number of higher rank phrases inthe number of pieces of relevant phrase-including content obtainedthrough the search, the number of pieces of illegitimate content in therelevant phrase-including content, and the illegitimate content ratio,and registers for which the values of these items are equal to orgreater than predetermined values, as a relevant phrase (foreignlanguage notation), in the query creation dictionary. Note that thequery creation dictionary generating unit 11 determines whether or notthe found content is illegitimate, using video/sound comparison.

The query creation dictionary generating unit 11 may also register aphrase obtained by converting the title of legitimate content into alanguage different from the language of this title, as a relevant phrase(foreign language notation), in the query creation dictionary. Notehowever that, as will be described later, by setting the number ofpieces of illegitimate content in the relevant phrase-including contentobtained through the search using an extracted phrase, and theillegitimate content ratio, as indexes for the registration in the querycreation dictionary, it is possible to generate a higher-quality querycreation dictionary.

In the above-described procedures of acquiring a relevant phrase fromthe title of illegitimate content, and registering the acquired relevantphrase in the query creation dictionary, the purpose of the languageanalysis is to divide the text of the title of the content into phrases.There are various methods of language analysis, but a common method isto learn and use appropriate division of a task using word division withmorphological analysis or syntax analysis, or a statistical model suchas a conditional random field (CRF) model.

Morphological analysis is often sufficient if the text is in Japanese.On the other hand, if the text is in foreign languages, the accuracy ofdivision may be reduced using a common morphological analysis device.Therefore, it is desirable to use a model learned division of foreignlanguage phrases with a statistical learning method such as a CRF model.Furthermore, if sufficient pieces of learning data can be prepared, itmay be better to construct and use a statistical model dedicated forphrase division even if the text is in Japanese, in order to achieveaccurate phrase division. Therefore, the language analysis method can beselected as appropriate. If sufficient learning data cannot be prepared,phrase division may be performed automatically by preparing a dictionaryof break characters (such as a space, a colon, and parentheses) anddesigning a rule. In a method using morphological analysis, the accuracyof division depends on the dimension of a dictionary of morphologicalanalysis. On the other hand, in a method using the above-described breakcharacter, the accuracy of division does not depend on the dimension ofa dictionary, and thus more accurate phrase division can be performedthan in the method using morphological analysis, depending on thesituation.

Furthermore, in the above-described procedure in which a relevant phraseis acquired based on the title of illegitimate content, and isregistered in the query creation dictionary, the number of pieces ofillegitimate content in the relevant phrase-including content acquiredthrough a search using the extracted phrase, and the illegitimatecontent ratio are set as indexes for the registration in the querycreation dictionary. As described above, the query creation dictionaryis used to create a search query for searching for illegitimate content.Here, even if the number of phrases registered in the query creationdictionary is increased, only using the appearance frequency of a phrasein the title of illegitimate content as a criterion, there is alikelihood that the quality of search results may deteriorate, such as acase where the search results do not include illegitimate content.Accordingly, as in the present embodiment, by setting the number ofpieces of illegitimate content in the relevant phrase-including contentobtained through a search using an extracted phrase, and theillegitimate content ratio as indexes for the registration in the querycreation dictionary, it is possible to generate a high quality querycreation dictionary that can detect illegitimate content with moreaccuracy.

Referring again to FIG. 1, the query creation dictionary storing unit 12stores the query creation dictionary.

The search query creation rule storing unit 13 stores a search querycreation rule, which is a rule for creating a search query. Commonly, aneffective search query differs depending on the category of illegitimatecontent to be searched for. The search query creation rule storing unit13 stores, as a search query creation rule, a phrase combining rule foreach category of illegitimate content to be searched for, for example.

As an example of the search query creation rule, there is a rule that asearch query obtained by combining the title and a subtitle of content(for example, “title subtitle”) is created. Also, as another searchquery creation rule, there is a rule that a search query obtained bycombining the title of content and the date thereof (for example, “title20170101”, that is, “title 2017 January first”) is created. Furthermore,as yet another search query creation rule, there is a rule that a searchquery obtained by combining the title of content and the episode numberthereof (for example, “title first episode”, or “title ep. 1”) iscreated. As yet another search query creation rule, there is a rule thata search query obtained by combining the title of content and the castis created. As yet another search query creation rule, there is a rulethat a search query obtained by combining an abbreviated name of thetitle of content and the date thereof is created. As yet another searchquery creation rule, there is a rule that a search query including anotation fluctuation phrase of the title of content is created. As yetanother search query creation rule, there is a rule that a search queryobtained by combining a foreign language notation of the title ofcontent and the date thereof is created. Note that the above-describedexamples are only illustrative, and a search query can be created bycombining any types of meta-information.

The search query creating unit 14 creates a search query using arelevant phrase registered in the query creation dictionary based on thetitle of legitimate content (legitimate title) and meta-informationthereof. Here, the search query creating unit 14 creates a search queryaccording to the search query creation rule stored in the search querycreation rule storing unit 13. As described above, an effective searchquery differs depending on the category of illegitimate content to besearched for. Accordingly, it is effective to create a query, usingmeta-information suitable for the category of illegitimate content to besearched for. Examples of the search query creation rule according tothe category of illegitimate content to be searched for include a phrasecombining rule for each category of illegitimate content to be searchedfor. When, according to this rule, a search query for searching forillegitimate content that is relevant to televised content is created,the search query creating unit 14 will create a search query thatincludes the date of broadcast if the content belongs to a variety showcategory, and will create a search query including the episode number ifthe content belongs to a drama/animation category.

As described above, the query creation dictionary stores a relevantphrase, and the ratio of illegitimate content to relevantphrase-including content acquired through a search using this relevantphrase, in association with each other. The search query creating unit14 may select, based on the illegitimate content ratio registered in thequery creation dictionary, a relevant phrase to be used to create asearch query. For example, the search query creating unit 14 may alsocreate a search query preferentially using a relevant phrase with ahigher illegitimate content ratio, among the relevant phrases registeredin the query creation dictionary. With this measure, it is expected toobtain search results that include many pieces of illegitimate content.

The search query creating unit 14 outputs the created search queries(search queries 1 to N) to the comparison target acquiring unit 15.

The comparison target acquiring unit 15 uses the search queries outputfrom the search query creating unit 14 to search a content acquisitionsource on a communication network. Also, the comparison target acquiringunit 15 determines the content that was found as the content whose titlematches any of the search queries, as possible content, which ispossibly illegitimate content, and acquires the identificationinformation of the possible content from the content acquisition source.“Identification information” refers to information for uniquelyidentifying possible content, and is, for example, the content addresson the Internet, that is, a URL.

Specifically, the comparison target acquiring unit 15 uses the searchqueries output from the search query creating unit 14 to cause thecontent acquisition source to extract, from a content group, one or morepieces of content whose title includes any of the search query. Then,the comparison target acquiring unit 15 determines a certain number ofpieces of content from among the content extracted by the contentacquisition source, as possible content, and acquires the identificationinformation of the possible content. For example, the comparison targetacquiring unit 15 determines, from among the content extracted as havinga higher matching degree to the search queries, a predetermined numberof pieces of content having higher matching degrees, as the possiblecontent, and acquires the identification information thereof.

If the content posting tendency in the content acquisition source, andthe content posting tendency of a posting user are apparent, the ratioof included illegitimate content can be increased, by setting the numberof pieces of possible content whose identification information is to beacquired (the number of acquisitions) by the comparison target acquiringunit 15 to an appropriate value that corresponds to the postingtendency. For example, the number of acquisitions may be set to a largevalue, for a content acquisition source that has a tendency that manypieces of illegitimate content in a specific category (such as dramasand animations), or a posting user having a high rate of postingillegitimate content. The number of acquisitions that corresponds to acontent acquisition source or the posting tendency of a posting user maybe stored in advance as a configuration parameter in the form of a listby the comparison target acquiring unit 15, for example.

The comparison target acquiring unit 15 outputs the acquiredidentification information of the pieces of possible content (possiblecontent 1 to M) to the content profile acquiring unit 16.

The content profile acquiring unit 16 acquires the profiles of thepossible content identified based on the identification informationoutput from the comparison target acquiring unit 15. The profile ofpossible content refers to information relating to the possible content,and includes, for example, the title of the possible content, thecontent length (e.g. time length), posting time (elapsed time from therelease date of the legitimate content until the possible content isposted), the number of views, a thumbnail image, a content acquisitionsource, the number of subscribers (number of favorites registered bysite users), the number of comments and comment texts added to thecontent, the illegitimate content-relating number, and the like.

“Thumbnail image” refers to a static image that can be acquired fromvideo content and represents the content. The criteria for acquiring athumbnail image, the number of images to be acquired, and the likediffer depending on the content acquisition source. Furthermore, theillegitimate content-relating number refers to the number of pieces ofillegitimate content associated with the possible content. In theillegitimate content search device 1, for each piece of the illegitimatecontent that was searched for, association of this illegitimate contentwith relevant content can be stored. The content profile acquiring unit16 can acquire, based on such association, the number of pieces ofillegitimate content associated with the possible content. Theillegitimate content-relating number is an essential profile thatcontributes to the degree of illegitimacy.

Furthermore, the profile of possible content may also include theprofile of the user who has posted the possible content, for example,the user account name, the date on which the user account was generated,the summary of the user account, the number of subscribers of the useraccount, the titles of the posted content and relevant content, thedeletion history of posted content, the frequency of posting of content,the number of views of posted content and transition thereof,information as to whether or not illegitimate content has been posted,the ratio of included illegitimate content, the type of editingtendency, and the like.

The content profile acquiring unit 16 performs video/sound comparisonbetween content previously posted by a posting user and the legitimatecontent, or thumbnail image comparison between the content previouslyposted by a posting user and the illegitimate content, and calculateswhether or not illegitimate content has ever been posted in the history,and the ratio of illegitimate content included in the posted content.Note that such comparison is troublesome. Accordingly, the contentprofile acquiring unit 16 may store the acquired information of theposting users who has ever posted the information in a list so that itcan be referenced, and update the list on a regular basis. Furthermore,the content profile acquiring unit 16 determines, at the time of thecomparison, whether or not there is special editing processing such as,for example, cutting and editing, time warping, Picture in Picture(PinP) processing, and acquires the type of determination tendency. Ingeneral, content subjected to such special editing processing asdescribed above is highly likely to be illegitimate content.

Furthermore, the profile of the possible content may also include aprofile relating to the degree of public topicality. Examples of theprofile relating to the degree of public topicality include a score orranking of a phrase for which the number of searches has rapidlyincreased, the score or ranking being able to be acquired from a searchservice such as a Social Networking Service (SNS) or news services.Also, if the possible content relates to a TV program, the profilerelating to the degree of public topicality is, for example, theaudience rate of the TV program.

For content having a higher degree of public topicality, there is a highdemand for illegitimate content relevant thereto, and there is a highlikelihood that many pieces of illegitimate content are posted.Acquiring the profile indicating the degree of public topicality asdescribed above is useful in effectively searching for illegitimatecontent.

The content profile acquiring unit 16 outputs the identificationinformation and the acquired profiles of the possible content (possiblecontent 1 to M) to the exceptional content removing unit 17.

Based on the profile of the possible content output from the contentprofile acquiring unit 16, the exceptional content removing unit 17determines exceptional content, which is less likely to be illegitimatecontent and is to be removed from possible illegitimate content.Specifically, if the profile of possible content satisfies apredetermined condition, the exceptional content removing unit 17determines this possible content as exceptional content, and removes itfrom the possible content. The predetermined condition is that, forexample, the user account of a posting user who has posted the possiblecontent included in the profile is of a legitimate user. Furthermore,the predetermined condition is that, for example, the posting timeincluded in the profile is before the release of the legitimate content.Furthermore, the predetermined condition is that, for example, thecontent length included in the profile is extremely short (for example,about a few seconds). The predetermined condition is not limited tothese, and may be any condition as long as it indicates that thepossible content is not likely to be illegitimate content.

The exceptional content removing unit 17 outputs, to the fishing contentdetecting unit 18, the identification information and the profiles ofthe possible content that has not been determined as exceptional contentand thus not been removed.

The fishing content detecting unit 18 detects, using the profiles of thepossible content output from the exceptional content removing unit 17,fishing content, which is non-illegitimate content for inducing a userto browse, from among the possible content.

Possible content may include content, that is, so-called fishing contentthat is non-illegitimate, but pretends as if it is illegitimate contentand deceives a user who wants to use illegitimate content in order toincrease the numbers of audience and reproductions. Fishing content hascharacteristics, similar to that of illegitimate content, in the profilethat serves as guidelines for human to determine use of the content,such as the title, the content length, and the thumbnail image, andappears to be illegitimate content at the first glance. “Fishingcontent” is content whose actual items itself are non-illegitimateitems, and that is not subjected to deletion of the owner or the like.Because such fishing content is used by many users by mistake, thefishing content often tends to be included near the top of the searchresults, and may thus be included in the possible content. Accordingly,by detecting fishing content, and removing the detected fishing contentfrom the possible content or lowering the priority for performinglater-described comparing processing, it is possible to improve theefficiency of an illegitimate content search.

The following will describe an example of the method for detectingfishing content.

First, a detecting method using the title of possible content will bedescribed.

If the title in the profile of possible content includes a legitimatetitle, the fishing content detecting unit 18 detects this possiblecontent as possible fishing content.

In contrast to illegitimate content, fishing content tends to be postedwith exactly the same title as the legitimate title, so as to be likelyto be found by users. Accordingly, content with exactly the same titleas the legitimate title is highly likely to be fishing content.Therefore, the fishing content detecting unit 18 detects, if the titleof possible content includes a legitimate title, the possible content aspossible fishing content. Then, the fishing content detecting unit 18performs a refine search for fishing content on the possible contentdetected as possible fishing content (detection of fishing content).

The following will describe methods of a refine search for fishingcontent. The first method is a method using the title of possiblecontent.

If the title included in the profile of the possible content detected aspossible fishing content contains a predetermined character stringregistered in advance in a fishing content database (DB) 18 a, thefishing content detecting unit 18 detects this possible content asfishing content.

The title of fishing content tends to include, for example, a phrasesuch as “charge-free” or “trick” that fascinates a user of illegitimatecontent. Therefore, content whose title includes such a predeterminedcharacter string is highly likely to be fishing content. Accordingly, ifthe title of the possible content detected as possible fishing contentcontains a predetermined character string as described above, thefishing content detecting unit 18 detects this possible content asfishing content. Note that the predetermined character string for use indetecting fishing content can be extracted by the same method as theabove-described method in which a co-occurrence phrase is extracted,using the title of fishing content as learning data.

The following will describe a second method of a refine search forfishing content. In this detecting method, it is assumed that a list ofidentification information (user account names) of posting users whohave ever posted fishing content is registered in the fishing content DB18 a.

If the identification information of a posting user of possible contentdetected as possible fishing content that is included in the profile ofthe possible content is registered in advance in the fishing content DB18 a, the fishing content detecting unit 18 detects this possiblecontent as fishing content.

The account of a user who posts fishing content tends to be less likelyto be deleted than that of a user who posts illegitimate content. Also,a user who posts fishing content tends to post only fishing content.Accordingly, if the identification information of a posting user ofpossible content is registered in the fishing content DB 18 a, whichmanages identification information of users who have ever posted fishingcontent in a list, the fishing content detecting unit 18 detects thispossible content as fishing content.

The fishing content detecting unit 18 determines the possible contentdetected as fishing content by, for example, one of the above-describedmethods, as fishing content. Note that the above-described example hasbeen described taking a case where, if the title included in the profileof possible content includes a legitimate title, the fishing contentdetecting unit 18 detects this possible content as possible fishingcontent, but the present invention is not limited to this. The fishingcontent detecting unit 18 may determine the possible content whose titleincluded in the profile includes a legitimate title, as fishing content.

As described above, a predetermined character string that is highlylikely to be included in the title of fishing content, and theidentification information of a user who has ever posted fishing contentare registered in the fishing content DB 18 a. In the illegitimatecontent search device 1, by updating the fishing content DB 18 a basedon newly detected fishing content, it is possible to improve theaccuracy in detection of fishing content.

The fishing content detecting unit 18 outputs the identificationinformation and the profiles of possible content other than the possiblecontent determined as fishing content, to the previously detectedillegitimate content removing unit 19. That is, the fishing contentdetecting unit 18 removes the content determined as fishing content fromthe possible content. Alternatively, the fishing content detecting unit18 may give, to the profile of the content determined as fishingcontent, a flag indicating that this content is fishing content, and mayoutput it to the previously detected illegitimate content removing unit19.

The previously detected illegitimate content removing unit 19 detects,based on the profiles of the possible content output from the fishingcontent detecting unit 18, the content whose profile is identical to theprofile of previously detected illegitimate content (they have thedegree of similarity of a predetermined value or more).

Among posting users of illegitimate content, there are some users whopost, even if the posted illegitimate content is deleted by the owner orthe like, repeatedly the same illegitimate content. There are also someusers who post illegitimate content that was posted by other users,without change. For the same content, the plurality of items of profilecompletely match each other. Accordingly, if the degree of similaritybetween the profile of collected possible content and the profile ofalready (previously) detected illegitimate content is high, thispossible content can be estimated as illegitimate content. Accordingly,the previously detected illegitimate content removing unit 19 determinespossible content whose profile is identical to the profile of thepreviously detected illegitimate content as illegitimate content,without performing later-described comparing processing. As a result, itis possible to reduce the number of pieces of possible content to becompared with the legitimate content, and the efficiency of the searchfor illegitimate content can be improved. In the following, the contentwhose profile is identical to the profile of previously detectedillegitimate content and that was detected by the previously detectedillegitimate content removing unit 19 because it is estimated asillegitimate content may also be referred to as presumed illegitimatecontent.

The previously detected illegitimate content removing unit 19 uses, as aprofile serving as a criterion for determining identity, at least one ofa thumbnail image, a content length, a content title, and a user accountname.

The previously detected illegitimate content removing unit 19determines, as presumed illegitimate content, the possible content whoseprofile matches the profile of previously detected illegitimate contentas described above, or the possible content whose profile has adifference from the profile of previously detected illegitimate contentof a predetermined threshold or less. Also, the previously detectedillegitimate content removing unit 19 gives, to the content determinedas presumed illegitimate content, a flag indicating that this content isillegitimate content, and adds the content to a later-described list ofcompared content. Also, the previously detected illegitimate contentremoving unit 19 removes the possible content determined as presumedillegitimate content from the possible content.

Note that, for the processing performed by the previously detectedillegitimate content removing unit 19, the profiles of the previouslydetected illegitimate content need to be registered in the illegitimatecontent profile DB 19 a. Accordingly, in an initial state in which noprofile of illegitimate content is registered in the illegitimatecontent profile DB 19 a, the previously detected illegitimate contentremoving unit 19 does not perform the processing.

The following will describe a method for determining the identity usingthumbnail images (thumbnail image comparing method).

The previously detected illegitimate content removing unit 19 compares athumbnail image included in the profile of possible content with athumbnail image included in the profile of previously detectedillegitimate content registered in the illegitimate content profile DB19 a, and calculates the degree of similarity therebetween. Thumbnailimage comparison is performed for all combinations between all of thethumbnail images included in the profile of the possible content, andall of the thumbnail images included in the profile of the previouslydetected illegitimate content. For example, if it is assumed that theprofile of the possible content includes four thumbnail images, and theprofile of the previously detected illegitimate content includesone-hundred thumbnail images, the previously detected illegitimatecontent removing unit 19 will perform the comparison four-hundred times,for each piece of possible content. The previously detected illegitimatecontent removing unit 19 uses, for thumbnail image comparison, analgorithm such as dHash (difference hash) that is unlikely to beaffected by image editing processing, for example.

Note that, for example, a thumbnail image of the content that wasacquired in advance from a video posting site and was determined asillegitimate content as a result of video comparison is registered inthe illegitimate content profile DB 19 a in association with thiscontent.

If the comparison is performed for all of the combinations between allof the thumbnail images included in the profile of the possible content,and all of the thumbnail images included in the profile of thepreviously detected illegitimate content, the burden of the comparingprocessing is large. Accordingly, if the profile of the previouslydetected illegitimate content includes one or more thumbnail images(similar thumbnail image) similar to one thumbnail image, the previouslydetected illegitimate content removing unit 19 may eliminate thissimilar thumbnail image from the target with which the thumbnail imagesof possible content are to be compared. With this measure, it ispossible to reduce the burden of the comparing processing.

The previously detected illegitimate content removing unit 19 outputsthe identification information and profiles of the possible content(possible content 1 to P) other than the possible content determined aspresumed illegitimate content, to the comparison priority calculatingunit 22.

The illegitimacy probability estimation model creating unit 20 createsan illegitimacy probability estimation model that has statisticallylearned the relationship between the profile of content and theprobability (illegitimacy probability) that this content is illegitimatecontent. As the learning data for use in creating the illegitimacyprobability estimation model, data on the profiles of content to whichan illegitimate/non-illegitimate label was attached is used. Preferably,an operator visually checks the content to determine whether it isillegitimate or non-illegitimate, and then attaches theillegitimate/non-illegitimate label to the content. A criterion fordetermining whether it is illegitimate or non-illegitimate may be basedon, for example, whether the content includes a predetermined number ormore of the same portions as legitimate content.

Any model can be used as a statistical model as long as it is suitablefor language learning. Note however that, because a priority needs to begiven, it is desirable to use a model such as an SVM that can calculatethe estimated illegitimacy probability as a numerical value. Anywell-known method can be used as a specific method for creating anillegitimacy probability estimation model. For example, an example ofthe method is described in “Introduction to machine learning for naturallanguage processing (Supervising editor: Manabu OKUMURA, Writer: HiroyaTAKAMURA, Coronasha, pp. 101 to 117)”.

When performing statistical learning, the illegitimacy probabilityestimation model creating unit 20 needs to convert the value of aprofile into a value manageable in leaning. The following will describean example of a method for converting a profile.

The illegitimacy probability estimation model creating unit 20 converts,for example, the text of the title or the user account name of contentbased on a Bag-of-Words format. In the case of the Bag-of-Words format,the illegitimacy probability estimation model creating unit 20 gives thelabel that corresponds to the number of times of appearances of aspecific phrase in the text. For example, the illegitimacy probabilityestimation model creating unit 20 gives a label “1” to the text if aphrase “high-definition” characteristically appearing in illegitimatecontent is included in this text once or more times, and otherwise givesa label “0” to the text. For example, the illegitimacy probabilityestimation model creating unit 20 gives the label “1” to the text “movietitle first episode high-definition HD”, and gives the label “0” to thetext “movie title first episode”.

Furthermore, the illegitimacy probability estimation model creating unit20 classifies a content length, posting times, the number of views,content acquisition sources, user posting history, and the like intoclasses, based on the values thereof. For example, the illegitimacyprobability estimation model creating unit 20 classifies a contentlength into three classes, namely, “10 minutes or less”, “10 to 60minutes”, and “60 minutes or more”. Furthermore, the illegitimacyprobability estimation model creating unit 20 classifies posting timesinto three classes, namely, “1 day or less”, “1 day to 1 week”, and “1week or more”. Furthermore, the illegitimacy probability estimationmodel creating unit 20 classifies the number of views into threeclasses, namely, “1000 times or less”, “1000 to 10000 times”, and “10000times or more”. Furthermore, the illegitimacy probability estimationmodel creating unit 20 classifies content acquisition sources into thesame number of classes as the number of content acquisition sources, forexample, “A for a video site 1”, “B for a video site 2”, and “C for acuration website 1”. Furthermore, the illegitimacy probabilityestimation model creating unit 20 classifies user posting history intotwo classes, namely, “1 for a case where a user has ever postedillegitimate content” and “0 for a case where a user has never postedillegitimate content”.

Note that the above-described number of classification classes and theabove-described thresholds for the classification are merely examples,and suitable values need only to be designed according to variance ofthe values of learning data and the design policy of the illegitimacyprobability estimation model, for example. Furthermore, if numericalvalues are used, the numerical values may be normalized and treated ascontinuous values, instead of classification.

The illegitimacy probability estimation model storing unit 21 stores theillegitimacy probability estimation model created by the illegitimacyprobability estimation model creating unit 20.

The comparison priority calculating unit 22 calculates, based on theprofiles of a plurality of pieces of possible content (possible content1 to P) output from the previously detected illegitimate contentremoving unit 19, the priority of the plurality of pieces of possiblecontent when determining whether or not the plurality of pieces ofpossible content are illegitimate content. That is to say, thecomparison priority calculating unit 22 determines, for each of theplurality of pieces of possible content, the priority, which serves asthe order in which it is subjected to later-described comparingprocessing with the legitimate content. More specifically, thecomparison priority calculating unit 22 calculates, based on theprofiles of the plurality of pieces of possible content output from thepreviously detected illegitimate content removing unit 19, theillegitimacy probability of the plurality of pieces of the possiblecontent, and gives a higher priority to the content the higher theillegitimacy probability is. The processing for comparing possiblecontent with legitimate content takes time, and it is often difficult tosubject all of the possible content to comparison. Therefore, thecomparison is performed in the descending order of the illegitimacyprobability, and the priority is determined in order that anillegitimate content search is performed efficiently.

The priority can be determined based on statistical learning or thedesign of rules. For the profile that gives alone a large influence onthe illegitimacy probability, it is efficient to design rulesindividually, and give a higher priority to the possible content thatconforms to the rule. On the other hand, if a plurality of profilesfunction in a complex manner and the illegitimacy probability can bedetermined, it is efficient to use a method with statistical learningfor learning relationships between a plurality of profiles and theillegitimacy probability. When the statistical learning is used, a largenumber of pieces of learning data are needed, and thus it is sufficientto determine the priority, by selecting an efficient method or combiningefficient methods based on the amount of learning data that can beprepared and the types of the profiles that can be acquired.

The following will describe a profile that efficiently functions due toa designed rule, and an example of the designed rules.

The profile that efficiently functions due to a designed rule may be thetitle of content. The content whose title includes a phrase similar to alegitimate title is highly likely to be illegitimate content that a userdesires to find. Accordingly, it is efficient to set a rule using thetitle of content. For example, a method is conceivable in which a ruleis designed such that the descending priority of possible content isdetermined in the order from the smallest edit distance between thetitle of possible content and the legitimate title, that is, in theorder from the smallest difference in a character string between thetitle of possible content and the legitimate title. Also, a method isalso conceivable in which a rule is designed such that the edit distancenot only to the legitimate title, but also to a relevant phrase (anotation fluctuation phrase or a foreign language notation) registeredin the query creation dictionary is calculated. In this case, the numberof pieces of illegitimate content registered in association with therelevant phrase, and the illegitimate content ratio may also be used todetermine the priority. For example, it is also possible to determinethe priority by calculating the edit distances to, among relevantphrases registered in the query creation dictionary, a plurality ofrelevant phrases having higher illegitimate content ratio, and using thescore obtained by weighting and summing up the calculated editdistances, as a criterion.

Furthermore, the profile that efficiently functions due to a designedrule may be a content acquisition source. For example, possible contentderived from an illegitimate content curation website on whichillegitimate content URLs are put together by manpower may be highlylikely to be illegitimate content. Accordingly, a method is alsoconceivable for designing a rule that a higher priority is given topossible content that is acquired from an illegitimate content curationwebsite. According to this rule, the comparison priority calculatingunit 22 gives a higher priority to possible content derived from apredetermined content acquisition source (for example, an illegitimatecontent curation website) than possible content derived from othercontent acquisition sources.

Also, the comparison priority calculating unit 22 may also calculate thepriority using the content length included in the profile of possiblecontent. Typically, if the content length of possible content isextremely shorter than the content length of a legitimate content, thispossible content is not likely to be illegitimate content. Accordingly,the comparison priority calculating unit 22 may give a lower priority topossible content the shorter the content length of the possible contentis than a predetermined value that corresponds to the content length ofthe legitimate content (for example, about several % of the contentlength of the legitimate content).

Furthermore, the comparison priority calculating unit 22 may calculatethe priority using the posting time included in the profile of possiblecontent. Typically, there is a tendency in which a demand forillegitimate content relevant to legitimate content increasesimmediately after the legitimate content was released, and the demanddecreases over time. Accordingly, the number of times of posting ofillegitimate content is large within a predetermined period of time fromthe release of the legitimate content, and decreases when thepredetermined period elapses. Accordingly, the comparison prioritycalculating unit 22 may give a higher priority to the possible content,the shorter the posting time of the possible content (period of timefrom the release of legitimate content until the possible content isposted) is.

Also, the comparison priority calculating unit 22 may use the number ofpieces of illegitimate content with which the possible content isassociated, the number being included in the profile of the possiblecontent. Typically, if relevant content relevant to possible content isillegitimate content, the possible content is also highly likely to beillegitimate content. Therefore, the comparison priority calculatingunit 22 may also give a higher priority to the possible content, thelarger the number of pieces of illegitimate content with which thepossible content is associated.

Furthermore, the comparison priority calculating unit 22 may alsocalculate the priority using the illegitimate content posting historyincluded in the profile of possible content. Typically, possible contentposted by a user who has ever posted illegitimate content is highlylikely to be illegitimate content. Therefore, the comparison prioritycalculating unit 22 may give a higher priority to the illegitimatecontent in a case where the posting history includes a record of thefact that the user has ever posted the illegitimate content, than in acase where the posting history does not include such a record of thefact that the user has ever posted the illegitimate content.

Note that the above-described profile that the comparison prioritycalculating unit 22 uses to calculate the priority is merely an example,and it is possible to calculate the priority using various itemsincluded in the profile of possible content.

When determining the priority using an illegitimacy probabilityestimation model, the comparison priority calculating unit 22 calculatesthe illegitimacy probability using the illegitimacy probabilityestimation model, based on the profile of the possible content outputfrom the previously detected illegitimate content removing unit 19, andgives a higher priority to the content the higher the calculatedillegitimacy probability is. Specifically, the comparison prioritycalculating unit 22 inputs the profile of the possible content to theillegitimacy probability estimation model, and performs classificationof the possible content as to whether it is illegitimate ornon-illegitimate, and calculation of the illegitimacy probability. Then,the comparison priority calculating unit 22 gives a higher priority tothe content the higher the calculated illegitimacy probability is.

The comparison priority calculating unit 22 may determine the priority,using in addition to the profile relating to the illegitimacyprobability of content, the profile relating to the degree of publictopicality together. As described above, the profile relating to thedegree of public topicality corresponds to a phrase for which the numberof searches has rapidly increased and that can be acquired from searchservices such as SNS or news services, and the program audience rate,for example. Typically, it is conceivable that if content has a higherdegree of public topicality, there is a higher demand for illegitimatecontent relevant thereto. Accordingly, it may be preferable topreferentially treat possible content that has a high degree of publictopicality even if it has a lower illegitimacy probability than contentthat has a low degree of public topicality. Specifically, the comparisonpriority calculating unit 22 gives a higher priority to possible contentthe higher the degree of public topicality is. As a result of using theprofile relating to the degree of public topicality, it is possible todetermine an appropriate priority even in such a case.

If the profile relating to the degree of public topicality is usedthrough statistical learning, a statistical model that has learned therelationships between the profile relating to characteristics of thecontent and the posting user, and the illegitimacy probability, and astatistical model that has learned the relationships between the profilerelating to the degree of public topicality, and the illegitimacyprobability are prepared. Then, the comparison priority calculating unit22 determines the priority using, for example, the score obtained byweighting and summing up the scores calculated based on the respectivestatistical models.

The comparison priority calculating unit 22 outputs, to the comparisonparameter setting unit 23 and the content DL/comparing unit 24,identification information, the profiles, and the determined prioritiesof the possible content (possible content 1 to P), except for theexceptional content, the fishing content, and the presumed illegitimatecontent detected by the previously detected illegitimate contentremoving unit 19.

The comparison parameter setting unit 23 sets, using a configurationparameter list stored in advance, comparison parameters for use in thecomparing processing based on the characteristics of the possiblecontent. “Comparing processing” refers to processing for determiningwhether or not possible content and legitimate content match each other.“Configuration parameters” include, for example, a frame length, and acomparison method. “Frame length” is the length of a frame serving as abasic unit of comparison in the comparing processing. “Comparisonmethod” includes a method for performing comparison using sounds, amethod for performing comparison using images, and the like.

Any known method may be used as the comparison method. An example of themethod is described in, for example, “Media Content IdentificationTechnology and its Applications (Takahito KAWANISHI, and other two, TheJapan Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Appliedmathematics 21(4), pp. 289 to 292, Dec. 22, 2011”.

“Configuration parameter list” is a list in which appropriate settingsare described that correspond to the profile of possible content or acombination of the profiles. The profile of possible content used in theconfiguration parameter list is to estimate the frame length required toalmost ensure the comparison accuracy, and is for example, a category.If the category of the possible content is mashup content in sports, thepossible content is configured by editing a short video of about severalseconds. Accordingly, the configuration parameter list includes, forexample, a setting of a short frame length (for example, about 2 to 3seconds) that corresponds to the category of mashup content in sports.Accordingly, the content DL/comparing unit 24 performs the comparingprocessing with the set short frame length, and can accurately detectthe possible content that matches the legitimate content.

On the other hand, if the possible content is a drama or a movie, thecontent length is about from several tens of minutes to several hours.Therefore, the configuration parameter list includes, for example, asetting of a long frame length (for example, about five minutes) thatcorresponds to the category of a drama or a movie. Accordingly, thecontent DL/comparing unit 24 performs the comparing processing with theset long frame length, and can accurately detect the possible contentthat matches the legitimate content.

Furthermore, the profile of possible content used in the configurationparameter list may also be, for example, an editing method. The editingmethod is a method of editing performed on the content, and includes,for example, PinP in which an image (child frame) is embedded intoanother image (parent frame), time warping, and the like. The comparisonparameter setting unit 23 may determine the method for editing thepossible content according to the type of user editing tendency acquiredby the content profile acquiring unit 16.

For example, if the method for editing possible content is PinP, and thesame image as the image of legitimate content is embedded into anotherimage, the entire image of the possible content will be recognized asbeing different from the legitimate content. Accordingly, in thecomparing processing using images, the possible content and thelegitimate content are not determined as having a high matching degree.Accordingly, the configuration parameter list includes, for example, asetting of performing comparison using sounds for PinP serving as theediting method. Accordingly, the content DL/comparing unit 24 performscomparison using sounds, and can accurately detect the possible contentthat matches the legitimate content.

Furthermore, if the method for editing possible content is time warping,the sound of the possible content largely differ from the sound of thelegitimate content in feature amount. Accordingly, if the possiblecontent is obtained by subjecting the legitimate content to timewarping, in the comparing processing using sounds, the possible contentand the legitimate content are not likely to be determined as having ahigh matching degree. Accordingly, the configuration parameter listincludes, for example, a setting of performing comparison using imagesfor time warping serving as the editing method. Accordingly, the contentDL/comparing unit 24 performs comparison using images, and canaccurately detect the possible content that matches the legitimatecontent.

The content DL/comparing unit 24 downloads (acquires) the possiblecontent from the content acquisition source in the descending order fromthe highest priority calculated by the comparison priority calculatingunit 22. Then, the content DL/comparing unit 24 compares the downloadedpossible content with the legitimate content in accordance with thesetting made by the comparison parameter setting unit 23, and therebydetermines whether or not the possible content matches the legitimatecontent. The content DL/comparing unit 24 determines the possiblecontent that matches the legitimate content as illegitimate content.

Furthermore, the content DL/comparing unit 24 may download the possiblecontent having a long content length (for example, video content ofseveral tens of minutes to several hours), and may start comparison fromthe downloaded portion in parallel with the downloading. In this case,if it is determined that the possible content and the legitimate contentmatch each other, the content DL/comparing unit 24 stops downloading thepossible content thereafter. Then, the content DL/comparing unit 24downloads the possible content with second higher priority and performscomparison therewith. Accordingly, the content DL/comparing unit 24 canshorten the time necessary for comparison of a single piece of possiblecontent, that is, can increase the number of pieces of possible contentto be compared per unit time.

The content DL/comparing unit 24 outputs, as search results, a list ofthe compared content to the query creation dictionary updating unit 25,the fishing content updating unit 26, the illegitimate content profileupdating unit 27, and the illegitimacy probability estimation modelupdating unit 28. Specifically, the content DL/comparing unit 24 outputsthe identification information and the profiles of the compared contentas search results. Here, the content DL/comparing unit 24 outputs theidentification information and the profile of each piece of the possiblecontent determined as illegitimate content, together with the label thatindicates that this possible content is illegitimate content. Also, thecontent DL/comparing unit 24 outputs the identification information andthe profile of each piece of the possible content determined as fishingcontent, together with the label that indicates that this possiblecontent is fishing content. Note that the content DL/comparing unit 24determines, as fishing content, the possible content whose titleperfectly matches the legitimate title, and whose degree of matchingwith the legitimate content is a predetermined value or smaller, forexample.

Based on the search results of the content DL/comparing unit 24, thequery creation dictionary updating unit 25 updates the list of titles ofillegitimate content to be input to the query creation dictionarygenerating unit 11. Specifically, the query creation dictionary updatingunit 25 extracts, from the search results of the content DL/comparingunit 24, the profile (the title and the acquisition source) of thecontent that has a high matching degree with the legitimate content,that is, the content to which the label indicating that it isillegitimate content is added, updates the list of titles ofillegitimate content, and outputs the updated list to the query creationdictionary generating unit 11.

The fishing content updating unit 26 updates the fishing content DB 18 abased on the search results of the content DL/comparing unit 24.Specifically, the fishing content updating unit 26 extracts, from thesearch results of the content DL/comparing unit 24, the profile (thetitle, and the user account name of the posting user) of new fishingcontent, and registers the extracted profile in the fishing content DB18 a. With this measure, even if a new characteristic of fishing contentoccurs, a countermeasure will be possible, and the accuracy of detectionof fishing content can be improved.

The illegitimate content profile updating unit 27 updates theillegitimate content profile DB 19 a based on the search results of thecontent DL/comparing unit 24.

Specifically, the illegitimate content profile updating unit 27extracts, from the search results of the content DL/comparing unit 24,the profile of the content to which the label indicating that it isillegitimate content is added, and registers the extracted profile inthe illegitimate content profile DB 19 a. With this measure, it ispossible to increase the amount of data for use in removing illegitimatecontent by the previously detected illegitimate content removing unit19, and improve the efficiency of a search for illegitimate content.

The illegitimacy probability estimation model updating unit 28 updates,based on the search results of the content DL/comparing unit 24, thelearning data for use in creating the illegitimacy probabilityestimation model. Specifically, the illegitimacy probability estimationmodel updating unit 28 extracts, from the search results of the contentDL/comparing unit 24, the determination result as to whether each pieceof content is illegitimate or non-illegitimate and the profile of eachpiece of content, as learning data that is used by the illegitimacyprobability estimation model creating unit 20 to create the illegitimacyprobability estimation model, and outputs the extracted determinationresult and profile to the illegitimacy probability estimation modelcreating unit 20. With this measure, it is possible to increase theaccuracy of the illegitimacy probability estimation model created by theillegitimacy probability estimation model creating unit 20, and improvethe efficiency of a search for illegitimate content.

Hereinafter, the illegitimate content search method that is executed bythe illegitimate content search device 1 of the present embodiment willbe described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3. FIG. 3 isa flowchart showing an example of the illegitimate content searchmethod.

First, the query creation dictionary generating unit 11 extracts, from alist of titles of illegitimate content, relevant phrases that arerelevant to phrases contained in a legitimate title, and generates aquery creation dictionary in which the extracted relevant phrases areregistered (step S11).

The search query creating unit 14 creates a search query using arelevant phrase registered in the query creation dictionary based on thelegitimate title (step S12).

Upon the creation of the search query by the search query creating unit14, the comparison target acquiring unit 15 searches a contentacquisition source based on the created search query, and acquires theidentification information that identifies pieces of possible contentfound through the search, the possible content possible beingillegitimate content (step S13).

Upon the acquisition of the identification information of the possiblecontent by the comparison target acquiring unit 15, the content profileacquiring unit 16 acquires profiles of the possible content (step S14).

Upon the acquisition of the profiles of the possible content by thecontent profile acquiring unit 16, the exceptional content removing unit17 removes, based on the acquired profiles, exceptional content whoseprofile satisfies a predetermined condition from the possible content(step S15).

After the removal of the exceptional content by the exceptional contentremoving unit 17, the fishing content detecting unit 18 detects, basedon the profiles of the possible content, fishing content, which isnon-illegitimate content and induces a user to browse, from among thepossible content (step S16).

Also, after the removal of the exceptional content by the exceptionalcontent removing unit 17, the previously detected illegitimate contentremoving unit 19 detects, based on the profiles of the possible content,content (presumed illegitimate content) whose profile is identical tothe profile of previously detected illegitimate content (step S17). Notethat the processes that are performed by the exceptional contentremoving unit 17, the fishing content detecting unit 18, and thepreviously detected illegitimate content removing unit 19 are to achievea more efficient illegitimate content search, and are not necessarilyessential to an illegitimate content search. Accordingly, at least oneof the processes of the exceptional content removing unit 17, thefishing content detecting unit 18, and the previously detectedillegitimate content removing unit 19 may be omitted.

Then, the comparison priority calculating unit 22 calculates, for eachof the piece of possible content whose identification information hasbeen acquired by the comparison target acquiring unit 15 except for theexceptional content, the fishing content, and the presumed illegitimatecontent, the priority for determining whether or not the correspondingpossible content is illegitimate content, based on the profile of thepossible content (step S18).

After the priorities of the pieces of possible content have beencalculated by the comparison priority calculating unit 22, the contentDL/comparing unit 24 downloads, from the content acquisition source, thepossible content in the descending order of the priority, compares thedownloaded possible content with the legitimate content, and determineswhether or not the possible content is illegitimate content (step S19).

As described above, according to the present embodiment, theillegitimate content search device 1 acquires the profile of possiblecontent, which is possibly illegitimate content, and calculates, basedon the profile, a priority of the possible content that is to be usedfor determining whether or not the possible content is the illegitimatecontent. Accordingly, the illegitimate content search device 1 cancompare a large number of pieces of possible content with the legitimatecontent in the order from the highest priority. Therefore, it ispossible to improve the efficiency of a search for the illegitimatecontent.

Note that the present embodiment has been described using an example inwhich profiles of possible content acquired by the content profileacquiring unit 16 are used to perform an illegitimate content search,but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, theprofiles acquired by the content profile acquiring unit 16 are alsoapplicable to a method for searching for harmful content. For example,when possible content for harmful content is downloaded, and it isdetermined whether or not the possible content is harmful content, theprobability that the possible content is harmful content may becalculated based on the profile of the possible content, and thepriority for the determination may be given based on the calculatedprobability. With this measure, the determination can be performed inthe descending order from the possible content with the highestprobability of being harmful content, and it is possible to achieve amore efficient search for harmful content. Furthermore, if a profile orthe like that characteristically appears in harmful content is known, itwill be possible to determine whether or not possible content is harmfulcontent by comparing the profile of the possible content with theprofile characteristically appearing in harmful content.

A program for executing processing of a computer that functions as theillegitimate content search device 1 may be provided, although theprogram is not particularly mentioned in the embodiment. The program mayalso be stored in a computer-readable medium. Using a computer-readablemedium allows a user to install the program into a computer. Here, thecomputer-readable medium in which the program is stored may also be anon-transitory recording medium. The non-transitory recording medium isnot particularly limited, and may also be, for example, a recordingmedium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM.

The above-described embodiment has been described as a representativeexample, but it is apparent to a person skilled in the art that variousmodifications and replacements may be made within the spirit and limitof the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not to beconstrued as being limited to the above-described embodiment, andvarious modifications and changes may be made without departing from thescope of the claims. For example, a plurality of constituent blocksshown in the drawing of the configuration of the embodiment may becombined into one, or a single constituent block may be divided into aplurality of units.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST

-   1 Illegitimate content search device-   11 Query creation dictionary generating unit-   12 Query creation dictionary storing unit-   13 Search query creation rule storing unit-   14 Search query creating unit-   15 Comparison target acquiring unit-   16 Content profile acquiring unit-   17 Exceptional content removing unit-   18 Fishing content detecting unit-   19 Previously detected illegitimate content removing unit-   20 Illegitimacy probability estimation model creating unit-   21 Illegitimacy probability estimation model storing unit-   22 Comparison priority calculating unit-   23 Comparison parameter setting unit-   24 Content DL/comparing unit-   25 Query creation dictionary updating unit-   26 Fishing content updating unit-   27 Illegitimate content profile updating unit-   28 Illegitimacy probability estimation model updating unit

1.-8. (canceled)
 9. A computer-implemented method for determiningaspects of content, the method comprising: receiving a content profileof the content of a website, wherein the content profile includes a logof one or more users posting the content, wherein the log includes anevent of the one or more users posting illegitimate content on anotherwebsite, and wherein the illegitimate content relates to content postedby an unauthorized user without a legitimate ownership of the content;determining, based on the content profile, a priority of the content ofthe website for identifying the content as illegitimate, wherein thepriority of the content with the log including a record of the one ormore users posting the illegitimate content is higher than anothercontent with another log without any record of posting the illegitimatecontent; determining the content as the illegitimate content; andproviding the determined content.
 10. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 9, wherein the content profile includes an acquisition source ofthe content, and wherein the content with the content profile includinga predetermined acquisition source is higher in priority than anothercontent profile of another content without the predetermined acquisitionsource.
 11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein thecontent profile includes a content length of the content, wherein thecontent length of the content is longer than another content length ofanother content, and wherein the content is lower in priority than theother content.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, whereinthe content profile of the content of the website includes a postingtime, wherein the posting time indicates a time period between apublishing of legitimate content and an update time of the content ofthe website, and wherein the posting time is shorter than anotherposting time of another content, and wherein the content is higher inpriority than the other content.
 13. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 9, wherein the content profile of the content of the websiteincludes a number of pieces of the illegitimate content associated withthe content of the website, wherein the number of pieces of theillegitimate content associated with the content of the website islarger than another number of pieces of the illegitimate contentassociated with another content, and wherein the content is higher inpriority than the other content.
 14. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 9, wherein the content profile includes a degree of publictopicality of the content, wherein the degree of public topicality ofthe content is higher than another degree of public topicality ofanother content, and wherein the content is higher in priority than theother content.
 15. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, themethod further comprising: receiving an identifier of the content;receiving, based on the priority of the content, the content; receivingthe legitimate content; comparing the content and the legitimatecontent; determining, based on the comparison between the content andthe legitimate content, the content as illegitimate; and providing thedetermined content as the illegitimate content.
 16. A system fordetermining aspects of content, the system comprises: a processor; and amemory storing computer-executable instructions that when executed bythe processor cause the system to: receive a content profile of thecontent of a website, wherein the content profile includes a log of oneor more users posting the content, and wherein the log includes an eventof the one or more users posting the illegitimate content on anotherwebsite, and wherein the illegitimate content relates to content postedby an unauthorized user without a legitimate ownership of the content;determine, based on the content profile, a priority of the content ofthe website for identifying the content as illegitimate, wherein thepriority of the content with the log including a record of the one ormore users posting the illegitimate content is higher than anothercontent with another log without any record of posting the illegitimatecontent; determine the content as the illegitimate content; and providethe determining content.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the contentprofile includes an acquisition source of the content, and wherein thecontent with the content profile including a predetermined acquisitionsource is higher in priority than another content profile of anothercontent without the predetermined acquisition source.
 18. The system ofclaim 16, wherein the content profile includes a content length of thecontent, wherein the content length of the content is longer thananother content length of another content, and wherein the content islower in priority than the other content.
 19. The system of claim 16,wherein the content profile of the content of the website includes aposting time, wherein the posting time indicates a time period between apublishing of legitimate content and an update time of the content ofthe website, wherein the posting time is shorter than another postingtime of another content, and wherein the content is higher in prioritythan the other content.
 20. The system of claim 16, wherein the contentprofile of the content of the website includes a number of pieces of theillegitimate content associated with the content of the website, andwherein the number of pieces of the illegitimate content associated withthe content of the website is larger than another number of pieces ofthe illegitimate content associated with another content, and whereinthe content is higher in priority than the other content.
 21. The systemof claim 16, wherein the content profile includes a degree of publictopicality of the content, and wherein the degree of public topicalityof the content is higher than another degree of public topicality ofanother content, and wherein the content is higher in priority than theother content.
 22. The system of claim 16, the computer-executableinstructions when executed further causing the system to: receiving anidentifier of the content; receive, based on the priority of thecontent, the content; receive the legitimate content; compare thecontent and the legitimate content; determine, based on the comparisonbetween the content and the legitimate content, the content asillegitimate; and provide the determined content as the illegitimatecontent.
 23. A computer-readable non-transitory recording medium storingcomputer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor causea computer system to: receive a content profile of the content of awebsite, wherein the content profile includes a log of one or more usersposting the content, and wherein the log includes an event of the one ormore users posting the illegitimate content on another website, andwherein the illegitimate content relates to content posted by anunauthorized user without a legitimate ownership of the content;determine, based on the content profile, a priority of the content ofthe website for identifying the content as illegitimate, wherein thepriority of the content with the log including a record of the one ormore users posting the illegitimate content is higher than anothercontent with another log without any record of posting the illegitimatecontent; determine the content as the illegitimate content; and providethe determining content.
 24. The computer-readable non-transitoryrecording medium of claim 23, wherein the content profile includes anacquisition source of the content, and wherein the content with thecontent profile including a predetermined acquisition source is higherin priority than another content profile of another content without thepredetermined acquisition source.
 25. The computer-readablenon-transitory recording medium of claim 23, wherein the content profileincludes a content length of the content, wherein the content length ofthe content is longer than another content length of another content,and wherein the content is lower in priority than the other content. 26.The computer-readable non-transitory recording medium of claim 23,wherein the content profile of the content of the website includes aposting time, wherein the posting time indicates a time period between apublishing of legitimate content and an update time of the content ofthe website, and wherein the posting time is shorter than anotherposting time of another content, and wherein the content is higher inpriority than the other content.
 27. The computer-readablenon-transitory recording medium of claim 23, wherein the content profileof the content of the website includes a number of pieces of theillegitimate content associated with the content of the website, whereinthe number of pieces of the illegitimate content associated with thecontent of the website is larger than another number of pieces of theillegitimate content associated with another content, and wherein thecontent is higher in priority than the other content.
 28. Thecomputer-readable non-transitory recording medium of claim 23, whereinthe content profile includes a degree of public topicality of thecontent, wherein the degree of public topicality of the content ishigher than another degree of public topicality of another content, andwherein the content is higher in priority than the other content.